Locked joint for metal structures



. June 25, 1957 H. w. ToNEY 2,796,959

LOCKED JOINT FOR METAL sTRuTUREs Filed Aug. s1, 1-949 lll/Avlllllll/l/Awllllllllllllllll/l/Ill//l/L lill/lill.Will/[IIIA7l/Lv/lllllllll//l//llll/ln United States Patent LOCKED JOINT FOR METAL STRUCTURES Henry W. Toney, Niles, Mich., assignor, by mesne assignments, to Kawneer Company, a ecrporation of Delaware Application August 31, 1949, Serial No.. 113,317 Claims. (Cl. 139-66) This 4invention relates to metal structural assemblies, particularly :a novel form of locked joint for metal structures. The invention is of general application, but is particularly well suited ytol construction of prefabricated metal units such as Hush doors, .and will accordingly be described in connection with -such 'a structure.

It is the primary object of the invention to provide an improved and simpliled locking joint whereby the several individual parts of a metal assembly may be rigidly and permanently secured to each other by means that .are inexpensive, yet so' designed that various s iz'es of parts may be easily manufactured with unusual uniformity as to dimensional variations, so that they may easily meet the most strict requirementsy as" to manufacturing tolerances.

A further object of the invention is to provide ai novel and improved locking joint for metal structures wherein the commonly employed mechanical expedients of welding, drilling, tapping and riveting are eliminated, so tha't the product produced is rigid :and structurally'stro'ng, yet its appearancev is not marred by the presence of rivets, screws or welding seams.

A still furtherobject of the invention is to provide a prefabricated panel' suitable for' structuraluses such' as flush doors, etc., for-med of thin face sheetswith rela'- tively heavy reinforcing rails around their edges, with the sheets and rails united by joints laccording to the foregoing.

One of the most obvious uses for th'e present invention is for the construction of prefabricatedV metal doors as disclosed' in the drawingsA of the present specification, wherein: i

Figure lis a. front` elevationalview of .a-prefabricated metal door constructed in accordance with these teach'- ingsg Figure 2 is a fragmental detail elevational view of one corner of the door structure;

Figure 3k is af fragmental' detail sectional View taken on the plane ot the line 33 of Figure 1;

Figure 4 is a detail sectional View similar to Figure 3 showing` the shape ofv the parts before they are locked together; and

Figure 5Y is anenlargedfragmental Isectional view of the locked jointV between the face sheets and rails` which form the door.

The novelty of the invention resides in the locked joint illustrated in Figure 5, and while this joint.. is of generali application for various structural uses, it is` particularly well suited to the constructionof prefabricated ush metal' door-s as' illustratedJ in Figure 1. As`i1`1ustrated, the door frame comprises vertical rails and y11. with top. and bottom rails 12.and 13, providedwith front and back panel sheets 14.` 'Ilheentiremarginal edges of each of the front and back sheets are locked to Ithe rails by the novel joint here disclosed.

The rails 10, 11, 12 and 13 comprise relatively heavy metal shapes, preferably being aluminum or alloy metal extrusions of generally channel shape having a body portion 15 extending between two side flan-ges or webs 16. The channels shown have flat end faces 17 around the entire door, and the inside corners of the channels have thickened portions 18 in which a pair of relatively deep, narrow grooves A19 are formed, each :groove being deiined by permanently oriented spaced substantially parallel Walls formed by body member 15. These grooves lie on the opposite sides or edges of the rail and are spaced slightly back from the lower flat end surfaces 17. The sheet metal panel sheets 14 have short, rightangled flanges 21 along all of the four marginal edges of the sheets, the flanges 21 being preferably formed by bending so as to provide curved outer marginal surfaces 22 on each lsheet adjacent the flanges 21. The webs 16 of the rails include flat inside supporting or abutment faces or surfaces 23, whichl lie against the inner faces 24 of the sheets 14. Narrow front and back e'dge face surfaces 25' are formed at the opposite' edges ofthe end faces 16 of all of the rails. These edge face surfaces are located in the' same plane as the exterior face Vsurfaces 26 of the front and back sheetsr 14'. The faces 23 may be referred to as recessed with respect to faces 25 A deformable locking lip or bead 27 is provided along the outer edge of ea'ch of the grooves 19. This lip, before the parts are assembled, constitutes a tapered or pointed ridge, between thel groove and the edge face surface 25 of the rail, and extending alongfthe entire length of the groove, withan exposed` face surface 28lying` at an angle to the plane of the panel. The structure is assembled by cutting the several parts to shape,`v inserting the flanges of the plates-14 into fthe grooves 19 of the rails around thev entire marginal edge of` the panel,- and passing the entire assembly between pressure rollers to press the locking lips 27 flatas illustrated in Figures 3 and 5. A-s shownin Figs.- 3; 4 land 5, the grooves 19 are dimensionedf to approxi-mately the same thickness as' the flanges 21,I thereby providing a relatively close tit therebetween, so that the flanges may be readily positioned in the grooves for the rolling operation. As a result of the pressure rolling, the lipr 27 is bent inwardly so that its outer exposed face surface 28 lies ilush with the outer face surface 25 of the rails, and flush with the exterior surfaces 26 ofthe panel sheets 14. The lockinglips 27 thus overhang the grooves 19 in which. the flanges 21 of the sheets'1'4- are seated, and bear against the curvedl surfaces 22 of the panel sheets Ito lock theY flanges 21I in the grooves.- This forms a pennanenhinterlocking joint between panel Isheets and the top, bottom .and side rails of-vthestructure.

It is to be noted that the completed door is free of any welding seams or conventional fastenings lsuch as rivets, screws and other conventional devices, yet the entireK assembly is rigidly assembled in such amanner that the individual parts cannot become accidentally released. The exterior of the door paneli is flush, with all exposedsurfaces lying in a substantially continuous, unbroken plane.- The exterior' surface may be provided with ornamentation as indicated at 29 (FigureZ'), but this is-- not essential to" the practice ofthe inventionand may be` omitted if desired: The metal sheets-forming the frontrand back faces ofthe panel mayv ybefrolle'd' with a slight tensionl .if desired, so'that lthe" assembled unit will` form agirder1with no backstiifeners, and thus give maximum strength for the weightof metalsY involved.

. Itf will be clear to those skilled in the art that the structure asfhere disclosed is comparatively inexpensive to`V manufacture, sin'ce it'avoidshall drilling, tapping, riveting, welding and other conventional expedients for joining the several parts, yet is well adapted to production in all sizes and rshapes, and may be produced in factory production methods with dimensional stability within much closer tolerances than can be obtained by operations such as welding. Thus, while the invention is particularly useful in connection with the manufacture of ush metal doors as here disclosed, it is of broader application, and may be employed wherever it is advantageous to unite a grooved section with the anged edge of a relatively thin sheet to form an integral structure with a permanently locked joint.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by United States Letters Patent 1. A panel assembly comprising in combination: a pair of substantially at panel members each having an edge ange; and a preformed rail member; said rail member comprising an elongated body member having a pair of opposed grooves extending longitudinally thereof, each groove being dened by permanently oriented spaced sub stantially parallel walls formed by said body member,

with a first face of said body member extending transversely to said groove along one lip thereof, and with a second face of said body member extending transversely to said groove adjacent the other lip thereof, and a deformable bead projecting outwardly from each said second face at the second mentioned lip of each groove, said panel anges closely fitting, one in each of said grooves, with the portion of each panel extending from the respective groove directed away from the respective bead; whereby said panels may be locked into permanent structural assembly with said rail by deformation of said beads into overlapping relation With the respective panels in the region of the respective anges.

2. A panel assembly comprising in combination: a -substantially flat panel member having an edge flange; and a preformed rail member; said rail member comprising an elongated body member having a groove extending longitudinally thereof, said groove being defined by permanently oriented spaced substantially parallel walls formed by said body member, a rst face of said body member extending transversely to said groove along one lip thereof, a second face of said body member extending transversely to said groove adjacent the other lip thereof, and a deformable bead projecting outwardly from said second face at the second mentioned lip of said groove, said panel flange closely fitting in said groove with the portion of the panel extending from the groove directed away from the bead; whereby said panel may be locked into permanent structural assembly with said rail by deformation of said bead into overlapping relation with the panel in the region of the flange.

3. A structural assembly comprising, in combination, a relatively thin at sheet having a flange extending a short distance from an edge; and a preformed elongated metal rail having an end portion extending generally in the direction of said ange on the sheet and a sheet supporting portion extending in the direction of said sheet, said rail having a groove adjacent said sheet supporting portion substantially coextensive in length with said ange, in which said ange is positioned, and which is dimensioned closely to receive said flange, said groove being formed by rigid permanently oriented walls in said rail, the portion of the rail beyond said groove and the sheet supporting portion each having a substantially at surface, said sheet supporting portion being recessed with respect to the portion of the rail beyond said groove by a distance corresponding substantially to the thickness of said sheet, said portion of said rail beyond said groove having a small deformable bead preformed with the rail and extending outwardly from the rail substantially parallel with said groove and adjacent thereto, whereby said bead may be deformed to extend over a portion of the outer surface of said sheet in the region of Said flange 4 for locking the rail and sheet in permanent assembled relation.

4. A structural assembly comprising, in combination, a pair of opposed, parallel, relatively thin flat sheets each having a marginal fiange extending from a side towards the marginal liange of the other sheet; and a preformed metal rail including spaced, parallel edges each receiving an edge of one of said sheets and each having a length substantially coextensive with the edge of the sheet received, said rail also including an end portion interconnecting said rail edges and extending generally parallel to the anges on said sheets, said rail yedges each including a sheet supporting portion extending generally in the direction of the received sheet, and also including a groove substantially coextensive in length with the iiange on the sheet associated therewith, each of the grooves being formed by fiat, parallel, permanently oriented walls spaced apart substantially the thickness of its associated sheet and Iengaging the opposite sides of the flange thereof, the portion of each edge of the rail beyond the groove therein and the sheet supporting portion on each edge both having a substantially flat surface, the sheet supporting portion of each rail edge being displaced in the direction of the groove from the portion of the rail edge beyond -said groove by a distance corresponding to the thickness of the sheet supported thereon, and small deformable beads preformed with the rail at positions adjacent each of the grooves in said rail edges, whereby each of said beads may be deformed to extend over a portion of ,the outer surface of each sheet in the region of its tiange in order to lock the rail and the sheets in assembled relation.

5. A preformed metal rail for use in structural assemblies comprising a relatively long body member having rst and second edges and an end portion interconnecting -said edges, each of said edges having a groove formed therein intermediate its marginal ends, the groove in each of said edges being formed by opposed, rigid, flat, parallel walls spaced apart a predetermined distance, small, deformable beads formed integral with said body member, one on each of said edges adjacent a first flat wall of the groove therein, each of said deformable beads v extending outwardly from the edge on which it is formed in a direction generally parallel with fthe flat walls of the :adjacent groove, each of said edges having a lirst at face portion extending from the bead formed thereon to the end portion interconnecting said edges, and also havinga second iiat face portion extending from the second wall of said groove away from said first fiat face portion, said second llat face portion extending parallel to the first flat face portion but being displaced therefrom in the direction of the other edge of the body member, whereby the rst wall of each of said grooves is longer than the second Wall thereof.

41, August 30, 1928. 

